Social and motor function in Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's Disease is a neurodegenerative disease that leads to a variety of physical, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. It is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Several studies have highlighted a potential relationship between social cognition and motor function in developmental and neurodegenerative diseases.
This project at the University of Birmingham will combine expertise from a variety of backgrounds including genetics, motor (movement) control and cognitive psychology. The overall aim being, to untangle how the dopamine system, and movement atypicality's contribute to social cognition differences in Parkinson's Disease. In the long run we hope to better understand the mechanisms behind social changes in Parkinson's Disease. This overall aim will be addressed via three projects. The first study will focus on social changes in response to medication and deep brain stimulation in individuals with Parkinson's Disease. The second project concerns a large-scale genetics study which will help to us to identify genetic predispositions towards social and motor difficulties. In particular this will enable us to see whether variations in genes that affect the function of the dopamine system affect social and/or motor function. The final project will investigate whether dopaminergic drugs can improve certain aspects of social and/or motor function. By completing these projects we hope to understand how dopamine, social and movement function work together and, consequently, we hope to better understand social changes in people with Parkinson's Disease.